Topic: Disabling playback in reverse

Mentioned it in my other thread, but want to say again how much I love this. I've been a Mac or Linux user for around 10 years, but Photosynth has me very excited about Microsoft products again.
My question: is it possible to disable the autoplayback in reverse? It's really odd for a walking synth, because you get to your destination and then it goes backward, which feels very unnatural. Ideally you can set it to play once and stop once it reaches the destination.
Also: what about getting a forum search option? I read through all the posts to make sure I wasn't asking something that already had been.
Thanks

Thanks chicagopatterns. Your first paragraph made my day!
Re disabling reverse playback. We put it in there to allow short synths to keep moving for more than a few seconds, and we think that it helps show how "scrubbable" the new technology is. Anyone else feel the same way as chicagopatters?
Re search: we're actively investigating a real search solution that should include the forums as well as the synths, and the authors.

Glad to hear it. Haven't been this excited by Microsoft tech since installing Windows 95 (by floppy disk). This is fantastic technology.
Regarding automatic reverse playback, my intention is to give virtual walking tours of various parts of the city. When it autoplays in reverse, it feels like you are walking backward. The feeling is similar to a movie or TV show playing backward after it completes. An option to disable it in a future release would be great.
Thank you for the prompt reply.

@chicagopatterns as far as being able to search the Photosynth forums, here's how to use Bing to search the forum for the Technical Preview here: http://bit.ly/searchpstpforum
Replace the term 'reverse' there with the keyword of your choice to search for here.
Notice that I am searching for results only from the domain photosynth.net and only for pages which contain the phrase "Technical Preview" (found at the top of every page for this forum) which filters down to mainly just topics in this forum.
:
Here's where I asked earlier for forum search here on the Technical Preview forum: http://bit.ly/psftpcps
@PhotosynthTeam, glad to hear you're working on it for this version of the site and that there's a reason for the lack of an updated Search or Forum page template in the Technical Preview!
There are many previous requests on the 'New Feature Suggestions/Requests' forum from Photosynth 1:
http://photosynth.net/forum.aspx?cat=01b6f15f-42eb-49cb-a221-ed56615e1c47

@PhotosynthTeam, trying to stretch a 200 keyframe spatial video by looping directionally back + forth has limited effectiveness.
I wouldn't rule out ever traversing a synth backwards, but certainly sometimes an option to simply loop the synth from beginning to end would be preferable whether that happens via:
a) a crossfade and teleport from end to beginning at the loop point or
b) uses a flashy little global camera view style camera transition (evocative of the Bird's Eye tours from the Photosynth 1 Community Tech Preview or transitioning between 3D and 2D view in the 2008 Release Direct3D viewer).
Then again, ChicagoPatterns is only asking for an option - not to rule out reverse traversal as a possibility for anyone.
::
@ChicagoPatterns, here are two conversations which are at least related to yours:
'Photosynth 2 playlists until Synth Linking occurs' http://bit.ly/psfps2p
'Playback direction setting request' by CommonSynths: http://bit.ly/psfpdir

I'd like to second the node linking. I know it's not the first time it's come up, but the possibility is exciting.
It would allow users to create virtual "choose your own adventure" tours. Another big motivation is to overcome the 200 photo limit. 200 sounds like a lot, but in my testing it takes about ~170 just to do 3 city blocks.
@NateLawrence: I do not want to rule out anything for anyone. A simple 'disable auto playback in reverse' option in the embed menu would make me very happy.

1. Panorama
As end is at the beginning, no issue here, just goes on and on. But, a viewer option to turn in the other direction would be nice for another viewing experience.
2. Spin
As end is at the beginning, no issue here, just goes on and on. But, a viewer option to turn in the other direction would be nice for another viewing experience.
3. Wall
At the end move vice versa to the beginning seems the best option to me and gives another viewing experience of the scene.
4. Walk
Walking backwards is unnatural indeed. At the end stop or skip to beginning would be options.

Those of you who'd like us to disable the "play" function walking backwards after its finished walking forwards, can I ask whether you're looking for a creator-managed switch (i.e. nobody gets to play this synth backwards), or a viewer-managed switch (i.e. don't play any synths for me backwards?)
I know it begs the question of what the default is, but since I'm sure that some people like the backwards play on some synths (e.g this one http://photosynth.net/preview/view/ac2640b9-9f60-4379-8e1e-4dc15a608ce7), shouldn't the choice be up to the viewer?

A priority to me would be to be able to set the default for a particular session/synth on viewer load via a URL fragment/query/switch - both for loading on Photosynth.net as well as embedding on other sites.
With Photosynth's D3D viewer I was always able to toggle between 'Photo Up' and 'World Up' myself with the [Y] key, whereas with the Silverlight viewer that became something that the author set which left the viewer powerless to change it when desired. As you suggest, I think user ought to be able to override a viewing option if they wish.
On the same note, if I'm embedding a synth somewhere to show people, I'd like to present it in its best light so that their first experience is a good one.
Whether you offer the user the ability to toggle looping modes in an embed is your call as far as how many controls you want in the frame but I don't think that it would require more than one more icon to select between:
1 Loop forward
2 Loop back + forth
3 Don't loop.

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